The Good Detective - (A P.T. Marsh Novel) by John McMahon (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

How can you solve a crime if you've killed the prime suspect?

Since the night his wife and son were killed in an accident, Detective P.T. Marsh can't see the line between bold moves and disastrous decisions. But when the former rising star of the Mason Falls, Georgia, police force decides to help out a woman by giving her abusive boyfriend a taste of his own medicine, he might have crossed a line. The next morning he gets called to the scene of his newest murder case, and is stunned to arrive at the house of a dead man, the very man he beat up the night before. As P.T. and his partner, Remy, begin to suspect the murder is connected to a local arson and the lynching of a teenage boy, P.T. realizes he might have killed the top suspect of this horrific crime.

Amid rising racial tension and media scrutiny, P.T. uncovers something even deeper beneath the boy's murder--a conspiracy leading all the way back to the time of the Civil War. Risking everything to unravel the puzzle even as he fights off his own demons, P.T. races headlong toward an incendiary and life-altering showdown.

Review Quotes

"The Good Detective by John McMahon is a promising police procedural debut novel with all the ingredients of a fast-paced thriller."--Mystery Tribune

"This unusually accomplished debut is the first in a projected series; with Marsh still having demons to deal with, the table is set for much more compelling, character-centric stories to come. Crime-fiction fans are advised to get in at the start."--Booklist (starred review)

"Southern gothic mingles with modern noir..."--Kirkus Reviews

"[John McMahon is] a talented writer with a good sense of place, and readers are sure to look forward to Marsh's next outing."--Publishers Weekly

"First fiction is dangerous business: many aspire, few succeed. Not so with John McMahon's debut, The Good Detective. Tight, fast and addictive, I blistered this book in a single day. It has everything top-drawer crime fiction demands: murder, conflict, and a damaged, compelling hero, all delivered in prose so crisp and clean McMahon presents like an old pro. If he had a second novel on the shelves, I'd be reading it right now."--John Hart, New York Times bestselling author of The Hush

"In The Good Detective McMahon skillfully blends the old and the new and weaves it into spun gold."--Reed Farrel Coleman, New York Times bestselling author of Robert B. Parker's Colorblind

"The Good Detective is a debut with all of the ingredients: snappy procedural details, a sharp sense of place in the Deep South, and relentless momentum. John McMahon's outstanding first in the series introduces a sardonic and sympathetic lead in P.T. Marsh, and launches both McMahon and Marsh into what promises to be a great career in crime fiction."--Glen Erik Hamilton, author of Hard Cold Winter and Past Crimes

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